A very special event has taken place last week in Washington DC that showcased modern Muslim contributions to science. Michael Jackman of MetroTimes.com has reported on November 15. If you know history, it's no surprise that Muslim contributions to science are important and far-reaching. At that time, Europe was under its superstitious dark ages. On the other hand, science flowered in the Muslim world. Muslim researchers made great strides in medicine, astronomy, and geography. Without Muslim scholars, we wouldn't have algebra, algorithms, or the number 0. In fact, if you were to rely on mainstream television news to form your picture of&hellip;

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A very special event has taken place last week in Washington DC that showcased modern Muslim contributions to science. Michael Jackman of MetroTimes.com has reported on November 15.

If you know history, it’s no surprise that Muslim contributions to science are important and far-reaching. At that time, Europe was under its superstitious dark ages. On the other hand, science flowered in the Muslim world.

Muslim researchers made great strides in medicine, astronomy, and geography. Without Muslim scholars, we wouldn’t have algebra, algorithms, or the number 0.

In fact, if you were to rely on mainstream television news to form your picture of the Muslim world, chances are you’d come to much different conclusions.

According to MetroTimes, media content analysis reports that more than 80% of US media coverage of Islam is negative. Additionally, Hollywood movies invariably portray Muslims as backward-looking religious fundamentalists.

They’re only able to get away with it because so few individual Americans are acquainted with a Muslim. It’s easy to distort something you don’t know much about.

In recent years, Muslims in America have rarely been portrayed as nuanced and complex human beings. The reality is that most Americans say they don’t know a Muslim personally.

Stopping Stereotype

In an effort to correct this, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) launched the Muslims for American Progress (MAP) project.

Since 2002, ISPU has been at the forefront of discovering trends and opportunities that impact the American Muslim community. Its research aims to educate the general public and enable community change agents, the media, and policymakers to make evidence-based decisions.

In addition to building in-house capacity, ISPU has assembled leading experts across multiple disciplines, building a solid reputation as a trusted source for information for and about American Muslims.

MAP project pairs human stories with hard facts and quantifies the contributions of Muslim citizens to the state of Michigan in eight areas; including STEM and medicine.

That’s why this special event about modern Muslims intellectuals was so important. The ‘Muslim Contributions to Science’ event took place at the Michigan Science Center.

The researcher Rebecca Karam has presented an impressive look at how Michigan Muslims have contributed to the scientific arts of medicine, engineering, and technology.

Karam shared some findings from the MAP project. She highlighted American Muslim contributions to science & medicine. Some of her remarks were that 15% of Michigan’s doctors are Muslim. These medics provide 1.6 million appointments to patients per year.

Karam has also informed that Muslim physicians in USA are making pioneering and innovative advancements. Moreover, she showed how Muslim women are leading the way to gender parity in STEM fields.

Furthermore, panelists at the event has included Dr. Mahmood Hai and Dr. Ayesha Fatima. They discussed their careers in science and how Islam inspires them to work.

As organizers has put it, “It’s commonly said that we fear what we don’t understand. Living up to our American ideals requires us to understand our diverse backgrounds.”